The popular Izombe Market in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, Southeast Nigeria was on Monday bombed by gunmen. The gunmen were said to be members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) enforcing the suspended sit-at-home order.
They were said to have stormed the market earlier to warn the traders not to violate the order by opening for business on Monday, according to a report by the Daily Sun newspaper.
But the traders defied the warning and opened the market for business, prompting the gunmen to attack them. The gunmen set two vehicles ablaze in the market before bombing the place, the newspaper reported. The frightened traders scampered for safety during the attack. Some of the traders sustained injuries in the incident.
“They came and threw a local bomb inside the market, and everybody started running for safety. They (also) poured fuel on two vehicles and everywhere went up in flames,” the newspaper quoted a witness as saying.
Oguta is a town on the east bank of Oguta Lake in Imo State of southeastern Nigeria. Oguta is called “Oguta-Ameshi” or “Ameshi”- by its aborigines, indigenes – consists of two parts, the old part which holds the 27 villages of Oguta, and the new part, called the “Oguta New Layout”
